Finding the fence

I've been thinking about fences lately.

You hear so much about sitting on the fence, finding yourself on the wrong side of the fence,

and how the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

I've learned that, in order to know whether your sitting on the fence, on the wrong side or wishing for what's on the other side, you have to be able to first see the fence.

The kids have colds, but we decided that spending time outside in the warm sunshine

would be good medicine for them. Since I was doing yardwork, they asked if they could too.

This little plot of land is going to be our garden this year (much larger one next summer), but it's shaded by the neighbor's shrubs growing over the fence.

Yep, there is a fence in there.

They've been discovering treasures all over the yard, but only after

they've dug, trimmed or raked.

Now that the fance was visible, Emma had to take a rest and, just maybe, direct a little
bit of the work being done by Ryan.

They've also been learning that, when you dig, trim or rake, the work isn't quite done.
It's finished once the debris is in the brush pile.
(Thanks so much to Adam and Jamee for this wheelbarrow...it's so easy to use that Emma
can push it over to the pile and empty it all by herself.)

Climbing up for a view of what's on the other side.
(Do you remember this fence from a few posts ago?)

This was my fence.

When we moved in, you couldn't see the fence through the horrible, detested vine that was

slowly choking the lilacs and the cherry tree.

The photo above it after working on it for an hour and a half earlier this week.

And here it is after three hours of grunting, pulling, cutting and sweat yesterday.

It amazed me how the vines wove in and out of the fence and over into the neighbors trees and then back into ours.

Because it was our vine that was encroaching on their space, I had to pull it back up and over the fence and out of their trees...that was the hardest part of the job because there was also the five years of dead, wet leaves that had accumulated with the vines. It did teach me a lesson about how our time is best spent on our side of the fence. It's much too difficult to care for or strive for something on the other side of the fence; our arms can only reach so far.

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I think that the trees just look happier!

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Back to the fences....

I recently heard a wonderful thought about the grass being greener...

If you think that the grass is greener on the other side, water your own grass.

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Happy weekend to all.

We're going to spend it at home nursing colds and sinus infections, with the hopes of warm afternoons spent outside getting some Vitamin D.